Karnataka Cancer Society

Poster drawn by a student

 The first week of our internship we went to Vaiyalikaval to meet the Dr Sastry, one of of the former presidents of the Karnataka cancer society. We were supposed to meet him around noon but he had a lot of work that day so our appointment was postponed to later in the afternoon. In the mean time we were given a small tour of the place by one of his coworkers. In the conference room at the first floor we discovered more than twenty different posters about tobacco prevention made by students from different colleges. There was also information about oral cancer and it's relation to tobacco  We then left and came back the next morning. We arrived and were given a very nice breakfast: idly and vada. We met Dr Sastry once more who gave us very useful information about how they worked. They had also planned a free screening day for local patients but it wasn't quite as successful as expected. He told us the reason was a late promotion of the free screening day. The add for the event was in the news paper the same morning, which probably mad it a little complicated for patients to get organized. The next two days the free screening of patients was quite successful. Many patients were checked and given prescription if needed. On the 31st of May, the international anti-tobacco day, the Karnataka cancer society organized a big rally. Plenty of students had prepared some signs and were ready to show them to the people on the streets. It was a real success and we realized how involved everyone was for oral cancer.

Nurses with there signs ready for the rally

MEG Swiss Team